Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Green Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Summits
Business Video
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
Afghan Journal
Africa Journal
India Insight
Global News Journal
Pakistan: Now or Never?
World Video
Politics
Politics Home
Front Row Washington
Politics Video
Technology
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
Breakingviews
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Gregg Easterbrook
Nader Mousavizadeh
James Saft
David Cay Johnston
Edward Hadas
Christopher Whalen
Ian Bremmer
Mohamed El-Erian
Lawrence Summers
The Great Debate
Unstructured Finance
Newsmaker
Money
Money Home
Analyst Research
Global Investing
MuniLand
Reuters Money
John Wasik
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Life & Culture
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Left Field
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Article
Comments (1)
Slideshow
Video
Full Focus
Editor's choice
Our top photos from the weekend. Full Article
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
NBC renews competition series "Sing Off"
28 Feb 2010
Discussed
241
Who’s behind the Wall St. protests?
155
Alabama immigration law decried, applauded as some flee state
96
Obama jobs roadshow seeks to tap anti-Wall St anger
Watched
Japanese airline, ANA, apologises for plane flip
Fri, Sep 30 2011
Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon dies after fiery crash
Mon, Oct 17 2011
Rihanna's "inappropriate" outfit halts music video
Tue, Sep 27 2011
NTC forces celebrate capture of Gaddafi bastion Bani Walid
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Libyan forces celebrate in Bani Walid city centre
Mon, Oct 17 2011
Britain warns Africa not to shelter Libya fugitives
Mon, Oct 17 2011
Displaced black Libyans tell of beatings, expulsion at gunpoint
Mon, Oct 17 2011
Ex-Libyan PM in hospital after hunger strike: lawyer
Mon, Oct 17 2011
Analysis & Opinion
Counterparties
Oh, so this is a SERIOUS bike lane!
Related Topics
World »
Libya »
Related Video
Libyan fighters step up Sirte assault
Mon, Oct 17 2011
Captured in Sirte
Cold comfort for black Libyans in Benghazi
Suspected mercenaries captured in Sirte
British FM reopens embassy in Tripoli
1 of 7. Anti-Gaddafi fighters celebrate after destroying the residence of Muammar Gaddafi at the Bab al-Aziziyah complex in Tripoli October 16, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Suhaib Salem
By Barry Malone
BANI WALID, Libya |
Mon Oct 17, 2011 8:17pm EDT
BANI WALID, Libya (Reuters) - Fighters with Libya's interim government have captured the town of Bani Walid, firing their guns into the air and hoisting the country's new flag over the center of one of the final bastions of Muammar Gaddafi's loyalists.
A Reuters team that drove into the heart of Bani Walid, in desert hills 150 km (90 miles) south of Tripoli, saw no signs of resistance from supporters of the deposed leader who have been holed up inside the town for more than six weeks.
"Bani Walid is completely free. It is liberated, 100 percent," said Mohammed Shakonah, a military commander with the National Transitional Council (NTC).
The apparent capture of Bani Walid brought Libya's new rulers a step closer to being in full control of the vast, oil-producing North African country almost two months after rebels entered Tripoli and ended 42 years of one-man rule by Gaddafi.
Along with Gaddafi's home town of Sirte, Bani Walid was one of Libya's last sources of armed resistance to the NTC.
Bursts of gunfire, fireworks and car horns merged into a cacophony on streets littered with empty bullet casings and lined with buildings damaged or destroyed by the fighting.
Some buildings were still ablaze just before sundown on Monday, others were flattened by NATO air strikes. Several shops looked like they had been looted. Thick black smoke billowed in the distance.
An NTC fighter in camouflage fatigues and with an AK-47 assault rifle hanging from his shoulder, embraced a medical worker and both men wept in joy.
"If Gaddafi could see this, he would give up," said Abdelfattah, another NTC fighter in the central square.
There was no evidence of civilians joining in the street celebrations in Bani Walid, home to the Warfalla, Libya's biggest tribe, whose members are traditional supporters of Gaddafi.
"This is a very important day because it now means Gaddafi doesn't have even one town in Libya," said Ayad Sayed al Russi, a senior NTC commander. "We hope that the residents who fled will come back now that the town is free."
The town had been under siege for weeks, with hundreds of Gaddafi loyalists dug into its steep valleys and hills resisting advancing interim government forces.
NTC officials had been negotiating with Bani Walid's tribal leaders for its surrender.
SIRTE FIGHTS ON
In Sirte, where Gaddafi loyalists have been under siege for weeks, there was little or no indication of the often disorganized NTC forces making any progress on Monday. Chaos and confusion forced them to retreat in some places.
A doctor for the medical aid charity Medecins Sans Frontieres in Sirte has estimated that 10,000 people remain trapped in the city of 75,000. Many are women and children, some are sick or injured.
NTC tanks and rockets bombarded a small area of central Sirte where they have boxed in the remaining Gaddafi loyalists. Libya's new leaders say they will only begin the transition to democracy after they capture the city.
Frustration is growing on the front line. Some fighters are irritated that their commanders have not ordered a big push to take the rest of the city.
There is also anger between NTC forces from Misrata to the west and from Benghazi to the east, who have accused each other of hitting their allies in "friendly fire" incidents.
"What we are trying to do is to limit attacks from the east and west to avoid friendly fire, and instead attack from the south," said Mohammad Al Sabty, a field commander.
"We have lost a lot of martyrs in recent days," said Mustafa Salim from a Misrata brigade. When Misrata units get close to Benghazi units "it gets harder," he said. "They fire at us and we fire at them."
Government forces captured 15 Gaddafi loyalist fighters on Monday, all of them black, a Reuters witness said. Gaddafi armed many sub-Saharan Africans to fight for him and black people have been subject to arbitrary reprisals by the NTC forces.
Some government fighters present tried to hit the newly captured prisoners, but were held back by more senior officers and the 15 men were marched off to the rear as NTC forces laid down suppressing fire at nearby snipers.
The new government's forces have been accused of mistreating prisoners and Amnesty International said in a report last week it was in danger of repeating some of the abuses of Gaddafi's rule, particularly through the use of arbitrary detention.
The often chaotic struggle for Sirte has killed scores of people, left thousands homeless and laid waste to much of what was once a showpiece Mediterranean city where Gaddafi entertained foreign leaders.
(Additional reporting by Rania El Gamal and Tim Gaynor in Sirte, Suhaib Salem and Yasmine Saleh in Tripoli; Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Giles Elgood)
World
Libya
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (1)
Invictuss wrote:
Liberated hahaha like the whole Libya what a joke :)))))
Oct 18, 2011 1:40am EDT -- Report as abuse
See All Comments »
Add Your Comment
Social Stream (What's this?)
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.